Compact container arrangement for propellant feeding means of rockets



APHl 14, 1953 F. B. HAU-'ORD ETAL COMPACT CONTAINER ARRANGEMENT FOR PROPELLANT FEEDING MEANS OF' ROCKETS Filed DGO. 27, 1949 iv! i..

,vide a rocket propulsion apparatus oi thisgeninto which canl be injected a main propellant,

Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED SATS arm orFicE COMPACT CONTAINER ARRANGEMENT FOR PRUPELLANT F ROCKEIS Frank Bernard Halford,

FEEDING MEANS Edgware, and Arthur` Great Britain Application December 27, 1949, SerialNo.- 135282 v 4 In Great Britain January 3, 1949 j Claims.

This invention relates to rocket propulsion apparatus of the kind which is installed in or attached to an aircraft.

One form of rocket propulsion apparatus which has hitherto been proposed for assisting the takep 5 oi of an aircraft consisted oi a spherical reservoir for hydrogen peroxide (which constituted the main propellant), a reaction chamber eX- tending rearwardly from the reservoir, and a group of compressed air bottles and a cylindrical catalyst reservoir arranged side by side around the combustion chamber. The hydrogen peroxide and the catalyst were forced into the reaction chamber' by the compressed air, whereupon the hydrogen peroxide dissociated into oxygen and steam which issued from the reaction chamber through a rearwardly directed nozzle with propulsive effect; The apparatus was enclosed in a streamlined Cowling and was suspended beneathY the aircraft on links from a pair of laterally spaced supports above the spherical propellent reservoir, and from a single support above the reaction chamber. 4 l

It is an object of the present invention to proeral type in which thev parts are arranged in( an improved manner so as to provide a more "compact assembly.

Accordingto the present 'invention a rocket propulsion unit for installation in or attache mentv to an aircraft includes a maint propeilent o reservoir, a reaction chamber extending rearu Wardly from this reservoir and terminating in a convergent-divergent nozzle, a second reservoir the form of an annular chamber eurroun the nozzle, and one or more containers for co pressed air or gas arranged around the reaction chamber between the two reservoirs.

Ihe invention may be carried into effect in various ways but one particular arrangement will be described by Way of example withreference to the accompanyingy drawing in` which Figure 1 is a diagram of the general arrangement of the rocket unit,

Figure 2 isan elevation of the unit section, and'. I if Figure 3 is across-section of' the unit taken thev line III-IIE in Figure 2.

As shown diagrammatically in Figure/1, the rocket unit consistsv of a react-ion chamber i@ mainly v in (o1. eso-35.6)

for instance hydrogen. peroxide, from a reservoir il., and a dissociation. catalyst, for instance sodium or calcium permanganate, from a reserL Voir l2. The liquids are injected. by compressed gas,.for instance air, which isfstoredin bottles i3. The compressed `air passes rst through-an automatic pressure. reducing. valve I4 and then through an ori-ofi or air releasevalve. l5 to a check thrust valvet6. The air release. valve l5 is under the control of the pilot of the aircraft through a linkage I'Sa (Figures 2 and. 3-) and when this valve isopened by the. pilot it permits compressed air from the bottlesl to passY into the apparatus beyondV the air release valve,as far as valves Il, I8 and 2l referred. to below. The air release valve` l5 may be arranged' to close automatically should the pressure on the upstream side thereof exceed a-.predetermined' value, ,for instance in the. event of failure of the. re-

ducing valve It. Such. an. air release valve is described in. U. S. Patent. application Serial No. 135,285V in the names of the present applicants and Ernest Baker Dove filed Decemberv 2.7, 1949, now Patent No. 2,612,019, dated September. 30, 1952.. The reducingvalve lli andthe .airrelease valve l5 are contained in a .commonhousingas V*shown in Figures 2 and 3. l

The checlu thrust valve L@ is also under the control of the pilot; When itis openeditvhas a large iiow crossfsection to permit free passage of compressed airbut when it is closed the cornpressed air must pass through a small auxiliary passage ltd so that only a small flow oi coin"- pressed air is permitted. Thel check thrust valve Y is closed only when it is desired to test or check the operation of the rocket unit without produc ing'the full Working thrust. Such a check thrust valve is described in U. El. patent application Serial No. 135,284' in the names of thepresent` appli cants and Ernest Baker Dove, filed December 27,

1941. After passing the check thrust valve thev compressed air passes to a starting valve Vf. The starting valve Vi is a simple ori-od valve. .under the control ofv the pilot of theaircrait. When this starting valve is opened, compressed. air passes through it and acts on the pressure senn sitive element of a pressure actuated'catalyst air distributor valve I8. The latter valvel is thus opened, and allows compressed air toiowthrough a pipe I9 and enter the catalyst reservoir I2 and so inject the catalyst into the reaction chamber I0. A portion of the compressed air which has passed through the catalyst air distributor Valve I8 ows through a passage 20 and acts on the pressure sensitive element of a pressure actuated hydrogen peroxide air distributor valve 2l. The latter valve is thus opened and allows compressed air to flow through a pipe 22 and enter the hydrogen peroxide reservoir I I and so inject hydrogen peroxide into theV reaction chamber i through a supply pipe 24 and anautomatic pressure actuated injector valve 23. The starting valve I'I, the catalyst air distributor valve IB and the hydrogen peroxide air distributor valve 2| are all contained in a common valve housing as shown in Figure 3. Such an assembly is described in U. S. patent application Serial No. 135,286 in the names of the present applicants and Ernest Baker DoveV filed December 27, 1949, now Patent No. 2,601,607. The infection valve 23 is a spring loaded valve which, when the pressure behind it is low i. e. when the check thrust valve IB is closed), opens only partially, and exposes a small passage for permitting only a limited now of hydrogen peroxide to enter the reaction chamber. When the pressure behind it is high (i. e. when the check thrust valve i6 is open) it opens fully and admits a substantial ow of hydrogen peroxide into the reaction charnber. Such an injector valve is described in U. S. patent application Serial No. 135,283 in the names of the present applicants and Ernest Baker Dove led December 27, 1949. The hydrogen peroxide which is injected into the reaction chamber thereupon dissociates, producing propellent gases which issue from the reaction chamber through a nozzle 25 with propulsive effect.

As shown in vFigure 2, the hydrogen peroxide reservoir I I is considerably larger than the catalyst reservoir I2 and is of generally cylindrical form with its axis in alignment with the axis of the reaction chamber. The catalyst reservoir I2,is in the form of an annular chamber disposed around the divergent portion of the nozzle 25.

Although it would be possible to store the compressed air or gas in an annular container surrounding the reaction chamber Ill, it is preferred to store it as shown, in a number of bottles I3 arranged side by side around the reaction chamber. In either case, no point on the air or .gas container or containers I3 is further from the axis oiy the unit than the outside of the hydrogen peroxide reseryoir Il. IThe compressed air or gasbottles I3 are supported at their forward ends by brackets 26 secured to the rear end of the hydrogen Vperoxide reservoir il, which brackets are sufficiently flexible to allow for some thermal expansion of the unit. At their rear ends the `battles are all connected to an annular manifold 21, through which the contents are conducted on their way to the reducing valve I4 via a pipe 33. The manifold 21 is secured to an annular web 28 surrounding and supported on the reaction chamber l0.

The housings of the valves I4 to I8, and 2| are supported on the annular web 23.

For the purpose of mounting the unit on the aircraft three bosses or trunnions are provided, one 29 at the forward end of the hydrogen per- Voxide reservoir and the others 30 on opposite sides lof this reservoir near its rear end. The

form of these bosses or trunnions is not material,

and they may be arranged to suit the particular aircraft to which the rocket unit is to be fitted. When the unit is loaded the centre of gravity preferably lies within the triangle defined by these three bosses. The thrust is preferably taken by the two side bosses 30.

For handling the unit when it is removed from the aircraft a slinging ring 3| is secured to the top of the hydrogen peroxide reservoir II at the rear end thereof, and another slnging ring 32 is attached to the top of the annular rib 28. The centre of gravity of the unit when empty preferably lies between these slinging rings.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to use with propellants consisting of hydrogen peroxide and a dissociation catalyst, since other propellants may be employed if desired.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rocket propulsion unit for an aircraft comprising at the front of the unit a main reservoir for one liquid propellant, a reaction chamber extending rearwardly from said reservoir, a convergent-divergent nozzle on the rearward end of said reaction chamber, an annular chamber surrounding said nozzle and constituting a reservoir for a second liquid propellant, at least one storage container for gaseous pressure medium compactly arranged around the reaction chamber in the annular space between the two reservoirs, and controllable means for admitting said gaseous pressure medium to the propellent reservoirs to force the propellants from their respective reservoirs into said reaction chamber for gas-generating reaction therein.

2. A rocket propulsion unit as claimed in claim 1, in which the main propellent reservoir is of elongated generally cylindrical form with its axis in alignment with the axis of the reaction chamber, and all the parts to the rear of said main propellent reservoir lying substantially within the rearwardly produced external contour thereof.

3. A rocket propulsion unit as claimed in claim 1, in which the storage container forY gaseous pressure medium comprises a plurality of bottles arranged side vby side around the circumference if the reaction chamber.

4. A'rocket propulsion unit as claimed in claim 3, including an annular manifold, connecting means between said manifold and the rear ends of said bottles, said manifoldconstituting a conduit through which the gaseous pressure medium is conducted from the bottles on its way to the propellent reservoirs.'

5. A rocket propulsion unit for an aircraft, comprising a main reservoir of elongated generally cylindrical form for one liquid propellant the axis of said reservoir coinciding with the main axis of the unit, a reaction chamber extending rearwardly from said reservoir, a convergentdivergent nozzle at the rearward end of said reaction chamber, an annular chamber surrounding said nozzle and constituting a reservoir for a second propellent liquid, at least one .storage container for gaseous pressure medium arranged around the reaction chamber between the two reservoirs and controllable means for admitting said gaseous pressure medium to the propellent reservoirs to force the propellants from their respective reservoirs into said reaction chamber for gas-generating reaction therein, the distance of the furthest point of the main propellent reservoir from the axis of the unit in any radial plane being at least at great as the distance of the furthest point of the said container in the References Cited 1n the 111e of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,400,248 Morgan May 14, 1946 lo 2,426,537 Van Dorn Aug. 26, 1947 2,434,298 Truax Jan. 13, 1948 2,505,798 Skinner May 2, 1950 2,523,00-8 Goddard Sept. 19, 1950 2,532,708 Goddard Dec. 5, 1950 6 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Aug. 16,1928 France June 24, 1915 France Apr. 19, 1927 OTHER REFERENCES Rocket Powerplant by M. J. Zucrow; S. A. E. Journal, July 1946; pages 387 and 388.

The Conquest of Space by Lasser (1931), Rocket Problems, pages 70-74. 

